Chicago Transplant wrote:I'm more of a Beaver Creek person myself, once you ditch the fur coats and Starbucks crowd in the village that mountain is all yours.

Of course I always laugh when I see that pic of the old Chair 5. If you are stuck in crowds like that at Vail, you're just not skiing the right parts of the mountain.

Or you're skiing the wrong day. I go snowshoeing on holidays!

Mountains cast spells on me - Why, because of the way Earth-heaps lie, should I be Chocked by joy mysteriously; stilled or drunken-gay? Why should a brown hill trail Tug at my feet to go? Why should a boggy swale Tune my heart to a nameless tale Mountain marshes know? --- Belle Turnbull ("Mountain-Mad")

"Nothing is so embarrassing as watching someone do something that you said couldn't be done." ---Sam Ewing

Epic Local pass is a good deal even if you compare it to Monarch. $550 is nothing for a season of skiing if you go every weekend as I do. Yeah Yeah it sucks to deal with disney world to get to the slopes but if your gonna let that ruin your day then you have other problems. And I'm sorry if I'm wrong here cause its only gonna be my second season but Vail seems to have some of the best terrain around, especially if you make it back to blue sky and some of the out of bounds trees(please feel free to disagree and list your fav spots ). I'm a mountain biker first however and I still feel like I'm cheating a bit by even using a lift to get to the top of the mountain, and the truth is we are. So its a little hypocritical to complain about expansion when the majority of skiers ski only because of expansion/lifts. So if your gonna use lifts you gotta deal with the other side of the sword, otherwise shut up about the world not being fair and be a badass and find the back country if expansion bothers you so much. I personally am purchasing AT boots and dynafit bindings for this reason but I'm still glad that when I feel like being a lazy ass that my overpriced ski resorts are still there.

They forget that some crisis is necessary to hone skill. "Near misses," those brief encounters with the reality of mortality, are great learning tools if properly approached. -Denali Climbers Guidebook

Calamari is an appetizer, fried squid. It is disgusting. Every time I am with a friend who orders it and they offer me some, I decline. The conversation usually goes like this:

Them: You don't like calamari?!Me: No.Them: Have you ever had it?Me: Yes.Them: You probably haven't had GOOD calamri, this place has the best.Me: That's what everyone saysThem: No, seriously,it must have sucked. I know where the GOOD calamari is, try this.Me: No, it'll be disgusting.Them: Come on, you don't know anything about calamri, you've just had shitty calamari, try this and I bet you like it.Me (reluctantly eating a piece of calamari): Ok, that tastes like complete ass.Them: Do you not like seafood?Me: Actually, shrimp is my favorite food, and I'll eat pretty much any seafood, except calamari & sushi, so I feel I have a good knowledge for what is good and what sucks.Them: Oh, I guess you just don't like calamari.Me: Correct, didn't I already say that before this conversation began?

This has happened about 15 times. The way I see it, since these people have all told me their calamari is the best, I have eaten 15 of the best calamari menu items available in the land. It still sucks.

Fans of Vail have coerced me into riding at Vail about 25 times in the last 10 years, taking me to the "finest runs", "best tree runs", etc. of this resort. Vail still tastes like Calamari to me.

"Cynicism and ill-humored opinion have built a stronghold called the message board. Sweet mother of God, see a f***ing shrink, people." --Corey Taylor

They forget that some crisis is necessary to hone skill. "Near misses," those brief encounters with the reality of mortality, are great learning tools if properly approached. -Denali Climbers Guidebook

If you know the good way to loop Vail on powder day you will get fresh tracks and beat the lift lines. Your legs will be cooked by the time you even come back to the front side and start gouging the woods.

You guys don't even know how good you have it. Imagine waiting all morning while they blast the top of the mountain and do all the avy cuts before they open it, if they open it at all. In Cali, the storms are so brutal and full of energy they close the entire tops of the mountains for days on end. In Colorado you just head out and ride while your tracks fill in behind you. Here it's a guessing game. You don't ride during the storm, you need to be there the day after it clears. And then you get to see your favorite runs slid out anyway after they popped them.

You guys also have trees, tons and tons of trees. Woods where the tourists don't go and the snow stays soft in the shade for days on end.

And the fur coats and lattes?? They paid for your nice high speed quads. Imagine sitting on a chair from 1960 for 40 minutes while they start the backup diesel motor and then only load every 4th chair after that so the main motor doesn't overheat again. I'd take the fur and lattes for nice state of the art chairs that don't shut down every hour when they are packed with powder hounds.

Disney land is a resort, Vail is a resort, Mammoth is a resort. Go ski, have fun, drink beer.